


Subella

by orphan_account



Category: The Memoirs of Lady Trent - Marie Brennan
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Not very good fluff, but fluff nonetheless, spoilers for book 3, stormy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 07:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4994722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's raining hard, and Suhail isn't used to it. Isabella is there not only  to comfort him but to remind him of the troubles that face them if they decide to officially start their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Subella

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't find any Subella fanfiction. It had to be done.

            It was late at night. Suhail and Isabella sat comfortably next to each other with a blanket wrapped snugly around them. A fire crackled in the fireplace and rain pounded the windowpanes behind the drawn curtains. Thunder rumbled threateningly in the distance, and small flashes of lightning made Suhail tense. He was still trying to get used to such terrible storms. True, he had spent much of his adult life traveling the world in search of Draconean ruins, and had more than his fair share of storms. But never in such quantities as this. In Scirland the thunder shook the boards in the floor and rattled the windowpanes in their frames. Much of their weather here involved clouds and little sun. How had people even begun to think about colonizing such a place as this?

            But nonetheless, it was Isabella’s home. Suhail dared not be rude by complaining outright how such a place could be so opposite than from the one he had spent much of his childhood in. If he could learn to love an eccentric woman who went to extreme lengths in order to study dragons then by golly! He could learn to love a place just as strange.

            Besides, Isabella didn’t seem to mind. In fact, to Suhail it appeared she even liked the sound of rain. She too, stiffed when thunder cracked nearly right above their heads, but that apparently just made the night all that more romantic.

            Not that Isabella was the sort anyone would call romantic.

            A log slipped on the grate, and a flurry of sparks danced their way up the chimney. Isabella leaned her head on his arm and drew her knees up to her chest, never mind that she was wearing skirts. “Suhail,” she began, watching the flames waver and snap in the fireplace. “How will we manage?”

            She didn’t need to say more. It was only up until recent times that they had suddenly found themselves caught up in each other’s interest. Isabella, being the forthright woman that she was, had confessed first, admitting that Suhail had been growing in her heart ever since the moment they had shared on the cursed island of Rahuahane. Seeing the impeccably intact Draconean structures move Suhail near to tears had made her realize how much she loved seeing him captivated in something he so dearly loved. It was silly and very close to cliché, but she affirmed that this was what she felt and could not bear to keep it in any longer.

            Suhail hadn’t even realized his similar affections for Isabella until she had pulled him onto the balcony that evening and finally revealed her feelings to him. All the close contact they had shared in the bell on Keonga, riding the sea-serpents and furiously trying to maintain that Yelangese caeliger: he had taken all of that for granted. It hadn’t really crossed his mind that those were moments chosen specifically by fate to enhance their understanding of a budding relationship. He just went along with it and got over any awkwardness by convincing himself Isabella was okay with it too. _She_ had never com-plained about their time together. Why should he have?

            Nonetheless, they were together, and that was an option followed with consequences neither had admitted to think about. “I don’t know,” Suhail responded, staring along with Isabella into the flames. “Rumors will put a solid end to what we have right now.”

            “So we must keep it a secret,” Isabella said, mouth hardening into a thin line. “We will not tell a soul about this. We can’t. For the sake of not only our now romantic life but for the sake of our work as well, we will continue this in secret.”

            Suhail sighed. “Perhaps that is the best option. Though what we do is very public work, Isabella,” he reminded her. Isabella glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “We study things that have the interest of many people. We can’t just suddenly recede and hope the community doesn’t notice. Between all of our reports and planning and studying, we’re going to have to manage to squeeze in time together, probably be put under even _more_ pressure.”

            Isabella, who had been looking immensely glum up until now, suddenly sat up, excited. “Unless,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “We were to do it in plain sight.”

            Suhail was baffled. “What?”

            She elaborated. “You have heard of those great detective stories, no? In them, they have to decipher codes in order to interpret the villain’s message and put a stop to their plans. We aren’t villains, of course, but we can still use their method.”

            “...Of using code?”

            “Precisely,” she said, nodding. “It doesn’t have to be a full cipher. We could just make up little things that suit us specifically. For instance, three taps could mean, ‘I love you.’ Little things.”

            Suhail sat up as well, a smile growing on his face. “You know, that might just work. Or, at least, take some of the pain away.” He considered it briefly. “Alright. Let’s do it. Let me also say,” he added, before Isabella could speak. “How crazy and wonderful you are?” After which he leaned in and closed a kiss on her lips, smiling all the while. She happily returned it before breaking away and hugging Suhail.

            “I love you so much, Suhail,” she whispered, burying her nose into his neck.

            He tapped three times on her back in reply.

**Author's Note:**

> The rhyming at the beginning was deliberate, yes.


End file.
